Welcome to Orlando, where if you don’t like Disney, you’re wrong. If you have kept up with the ins and outs of the parks, you might have heard that fan favorite firework spectacular, Wishes, made it’s final showing this week on May 11th at the Magic Kingdom. It has been the nighttime show since 2003, and it’s removal has caused a stir in the Disney community. Yet shortly after announcing it’s farewell, it was also announced that a new show, Happily Ever After, would be replacing it. Pitchfork and torches in hand, Disney fans rioted over the replacement until finally coming to terms with the fact that magic is always changing.
As a huge fan of all things nostalgic, I was not embracing this replacement well, and have gone through this week with an extremely biased opinion. Yet 9 o’clock struck, and there I was, phone in hand, prepped to watch the live stream of the premiere of Happily Ever After. Here are my live thoughts during my first viewing of the show, which you can watch here.
1. Omigod, here we go!
2. This music is so grand I’m loosing my mind
3. Wait, did they contour the castle for this? Shes looking mightly slim
4. Who’s narrating this? I miss Jiminy
5. 30 seconds in and no fireworks? Hmm, seems fishy…
6. Okay, okay, I dig the light swirls dancing with the voices
7. Still unsure about this pop music though, like where’s my Disney music at?
8. Fireworks wow! This is what I’m here for!
9. The projections are super simple and mesh well with the spotlights and fireworks… for now,,,
10. The first transition, let’s GOOO! See ya later pop music, I wont miss you!
11. OMG Tiana yes! Kill that solo! I’m living for Princess and the Frog attention
12. The fireworks during this little mermaid scene are killing it
13. Thankful for this instrumental reprise of “Part of Your World”
14. HUNCHBACK omigod
15. Quasimoto’s finally getting the attention he deserves
16. Look at him climb the castle like a freaking KING
17. He’s getting a lot of screen time, this is fantastic. I’m a proud Mom.
18. Rocky transition to Brave but I’ll forgive bc lots of fireworks
19. Wait wtf is Lightning McQueen doing here chasing the wind and touching the sky?
20. Oh man the Up house just flew by. I’m lost but emo.
21. Curse those first five minutes for ruining balloons for me
22. Lion King vibes?
23. Oh NO, it’s MOANA!
24. I’m LIVING!!
25. Okay, these fireworks are insane
26. They are making the swirl from the heart of Te Fiti in the sky
27. That’s pretty incredible
28. But where’s the Rock?
29. Heck yes Aladdin
30. The castle’s getting lit for the Genie
31. Yet I can’t say I’m enjoying the cover artists
32. TARZAN IS THAT YOU?
33. “Trashin’ the Camp”?
34. You mean the greatest Disney song ever written.
35. So much just happened on the projection end of the show that I forgot things were exploading in the sky above me. Oops.
36. Why is the castle lego themed for “Bare Nessecities”?
37. These crossovers are driving me crazy because they are so obscure…
38. WRECK IT RALPH, BIG HERO 6, AND INSIDE OUT!! Tiny cameos, big impact
39. I looked away for a second, and now the castle is singing to me
40. So this is what the castle sounds like. I always invisioned him as a her
41. Woah now we are back at “(You Ain’t Never) Had a Friend”
42. One giant Aladdin sandwich
43. Is this a cover because they couldn’t get Robin Williams to redo it?
44. And the castle just blasted off. Where’d she go?
45. Okay yeah they had to throw in some Frozen, thank god it’s not “Let It Go”
46. But why another cover?
47. Also why so depressing?
48. But the fireworks do flow perfectly with this rendition of “Love Is An Open Door”
49. Wow someone must have cued the mush-fest because there is so much love happening on the projections
50. Cute montage of hugs during “You’ll Be in my Heart”
51. It’s. Speeding. UP
52. Time for some ACTION!
53. Oh jk, just a faster sad song. It’s fine.
54. Okay more momentum
55. YES THE TANGLED LANTERNS ARE BACK
56. The worst decision they made was taking them away when Celebrate the Magic ended
57. I’m just glad they are back
58. Maybe they copied and pasted the files
59. I hope they did, that would be a smart move
60. Hire me for more smart ideas
61. Is, this? MULAN???
62. Badass.
63. She is literally the epitome of a firework in a character
64. Yes GIRL, she came to SLAY
65. And here we enter the quentisessential villian scene
66. Scar NO!
67. Too soon
68. Ahh that iconic Maleficent laugh. They had to throw that in
69. Okay fireworks are just so much more insane in the villain sections
70. Hereby starting a petition to create a villain only show? Or park? (I’m looking at you Dark Kingdom)
71. Holy mother of Pirates of the Carribean
72. This is insane.
73. By far the perfect music to add fireworks too. I need a full show of this ASAP.
74. Hans Zimmer Presents: Exploding Fire in the Sky and Imploding Music in Your Ears
75. Here we go
76. “Go the Distance”, that is…
77. Major Wishes feels
78. OK BUT WHY ANOTHER COVER?? I’m bitter, there was nothing wrong with the originals.
79. But Herc and Meg on the big screen is enough to make me ignore it for a second
80. Also the fireworks (what we are here for) are incredible here as well so major props
81. I wonder how much they spend a day on pyrotechnics
82. Okay wait the castle just made a mosiac of all the iconic scenes
83. BRB crying this is beautiful
84. Oh no, the pop music is back
85. The lyrics are beautiful though, I just wish it wasn’t what it is
86. OMG here’s the moment we have all been waiting for
87. The One
88. The Only
89. TINKER BELL
90. You can fly! Babe yes! What an epic transition
91. I appreciate this
92. The spotlights were a great addition
93. So much fire in the sky.
94. Okay wait that was the finale?
95. The music told me so but I could have gone for some more boom boom pow
96. Overall, different.
97. It’s no wishes, but it had some tricks up it’s sleeve
98. I’d give the show a solid 7/10, but a live stream can only do so much justice.
Thanks for joining me on my all-over-the-place thoughts and not-yet-formulated opinions. Change is hard and with a fireworks show as popular as Wishes being replaced, it’s easy to be judgmental of it’s predecessor. Happily Ever After is definitely different, and I saw things I loved, and saw things I hated, but to each it’s own. Now that I’ve taken the time to re-watch it and process it, you can read about my opinions here. (Please don’t kill me for what I say) Maybe someday this will be my happily ever after of a show, but today is not that day. I can’t wait to see it in person because I have high hopes that it will blow me away, moreso than my phone screen could have. Here’s to the future of Disney’s shows and hoping for a Happily Ever After.